What “Chewing Gum” Star Michaela Coel Is Listening to Right Now

Occasionally, Twitter will throw out a movie idea that actually makes a lot of sense. (We will apparently be getting that Rihanna/Lupita Nyong’o hacker thriller that the internet went wild for last year.) And so, everyfewmonths, Michaela Coel’s mentions explode with fans’ fantasies of seeing her play Nina Simone. The British actress and screenwriter certainly looks like the late soul legend, and she can sing, too. Plus, the opening episode of the new Netflix drama “Black Earth Rising” features a stunning scene where Coel’s character rows to Simone’s “Thandewye.” Would she consider the role? “Nina is a spiritual being in this world,” Coel tells me over the phone, with due respect. “But I would not want how we handle her legacy to be determined by Twitter, or simply because I bear resemblance to her.”

Coel is best known for making people laugh, but she’s rightfully serious about how stories are told. The London estate setting of her joyously rude Netflix comedy “Chewing Gum” is sunny and full of life—a sly counterpoint to stereotypes of social housing which often marginalize the working-class communities who live there. And alongside her recent appearances in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the “Black Mirror” Trekkie farce “USS Callister,” Coel took a lead role in 2018’s heartwarming musical romance Been So Long as a partial corrective to the lack of movies that center black love. “When I grew up, I never saw people that looked like me—a dark-skinned woman with no hair—in romantic leads,” she says. “I wanted to build that space so young women would have that.”

Coel soundtracks her writing sessions with everything from classical to Drake, and she makes sure to embed music at the center of her work. She sings on the “Chewing Gum” soundtrack alongside artists like Sampha and Ray BLK, whose music is just as integral to the show’s vision of London as Kendrick Lamar and the Internet are to Issa Rae’s L.A. in “Insecure.” We spoke with Coel about the songs that are playing in the background of her own life at this very moment.

Janelle Monáe: “Don’t Judge Me”

I’ve been a fan of hers for about 10 years now. I used to have posters of her on my wall. Her music has always meant a lot to me because she never forsakes her sense of self. She’s working-class, her parents are cleaners—my parents were cleaners. And as a black woman, she has definitely done something that has a feeling of “this music is for me” and for the LGBT community. A lot of the black music we have feels very heterosexual in its center, and she’s smashed that. “Don’t Judge Me” is is my favorite on Dirty Computer. It’s a belief: Don’t judge me, don’t judge anyone. That’s something we could all do with remembering.

Her entire Wondaland team are superb musicians, producers, and writers, and I was lucky enough to spend a day with them in L.A. last year. Then I got up on stage with her at [London venue] The Roundhouse during “I Got the Juice”—it was a pleasure to dance fiercely in front of thousands of people. I’m a fan of her, but now I’m also her friend, which is an incredible transition. And what’s awesome is that she’s exactly who you imagine she would be.

Bobbi Humphrey: “Harlem River Drive”

I play this song every day. I’ve even got an Instagram video dancing to it. I came across it about seven months ago, maybe from Soulection on Apple Music—I get a lot of my music from there. It’s about capturing a moment of [Manhattan’s] Harlem River Drive and slowing down to 45. It sets the scene for a world I don’t know, which is a feeling I quite enjoy. It’s of a time that doesn’t really exist anymore. The flute is just incredibly impressive; the vocals are also beautiful, and quietly hushed. It’s genius.

Various Artists: Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording

I saw Hamilton in London two weeks ago and I have not been able to stop listening to the soundtrack ever since. It’s a story about empowerment and uprising, and every song echoes that sentiment. There’s so many standout passages, like “write like you’re running out of time” on “Non-Stop.” And that’s what Hamilton did: He wrote so much that it was almost as if he felt like his life was going to be short. I love that thing about being persistent to keep writing and keep going. He keeps saying, “I am not throwing away my shot”—you only have this one shot. That teaches me to seize every moment.